Eradicating malnutrition

Business as usual approach hasn't helped

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent call in his monthly “Mann ki Baat” radio programme to intensify the drive against malnutrition by making it a mass movement is a well-judged and need-driven move to curb this scourge. The incidence of malnourishment remains worryingly high despite perceptible economic progress, decrease in poverty, surplus foodgrains, and an array of government programmes to facilitate access to food. Going by the Food and Nutrition Security Analysis Report 2019 of the United Nations (UN) World Food Programme (based on 2015-16 data), 38.4 per cent of the Indian population suffers from chronic malnutrition. While about 35.7 per